Genesis Global Trading Obtains a BitLicense From New York Department of Financial Services

Genesis Global Trading, an industry pioneer and leader in over-the-counter digital currency trading that specializes in large trades with institutional investors, has gained approval to operate in New York under the state’s Department of Financial Services’ BitLicense program. The license enables Genesis to facilitate the trading of several digital currencies, including Bitcoin, with its institutional trading partners. Genesis is the first New York-based trading firm to receive the license.

The announcement was made in two different press releases from the state department and the digital currency trader. In the regulator’s release, New York financial services superintendent Maria Vullo said,

New York continues to lead the nation in regulating the growing fintech industry.

Genesis provides access to institutional investors and high net worth individuals looking to buy or sell large sums of digital currencies. A regulated trading partner, Genesis provides deep pools of liquidity to its trading partners, same-day settlement, 24/7 trading, and deep institutional expertise developed from trading billions of dollars in digital assets since entering the industry in 2013. Speaking to CoinDesk, Genesis Global Trading CEO Michael Moro had this to say:

We are very pleased that DFS has approved the Genesis Global Trading BitLicense application. Although we have operated under a safe harbor provision in recent years, today’s decision is an important step forward and reaffirms the robust compliance measures we have enacted as an established trading partner.

The Controversial BitLicense Program

BitLicense was created by New York’s financial-services department in 2015 as a special permit applied to virtual currency exchanges. It has drawn criticism from crypto companies for being too burdensome.

Previously, other exchanges such as Kraken have joined ShapeShift in closing their operations in New York.

New York became the first state to craft a regulatory structure specifically for cryptocurrencies in 2014, and finalized its BitLicense in August 2015.

Genesis joins other four firms which have received the controversial license which include Circle in 2015, XRP II, a Ripple subsidiary that sells XRP – the following year; and Coinbase and bitFlyer in 2017.

Meanwhile, the DFS also authorized Paxos Trust Company, formerly referred to as itBit, to operate a permissioned, blockchain-based post-trade platform settlement service for precious metals, called Bankchain, according to a press release from the regulator.